Ramaphosa’s private Zimbabwe farm visit sparks questions over true purpose

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s weekend visit to Zimbabwe has roused speculation about the real purpose and timing. Ramaphosa met President Emmerson Mnangagwa privatelyat his farm in Kwekwe. Some speculated that Ramaphosa was on a mission to strike private business deals with members of the Zimbabwean business sector, given that he flew in the same helicopter as people described by the Zimbabwean media as “tender magnates” in that country.

Others wondered whether Ramaphosa might have been pursuing Thabo Mbeki-style “silent diplomacy” to cut a deal that would secure Mnangagwa’s political future. This is amid unconfirmed reports that some Zanu-PF members want the president to step down when his term ends in 2028. Mbeki intervened in 2009 when then president Robert Mugabe refused to accept defeat by Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai and step down.

The former SA president instead mediated a deal in which Mugabe remained president and Tsvangirai became prime minister, a new position. Political analyst Sandile Swana said calling the visit private was a tactic to divert attention from the fact that Ramaphosa was there on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to initiate early talks about Mnangagwa’s exit. Another independent analyst, Goodenough Mashego, linked Ramaphosa’s visit to Mugabe’s son, Bellarmine Mugabe, who last month paid a R600 000 fine and was deported instead of going to jail.

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Mugabe pleaded guilty in a Johannesburg court to pointing a firearm and being in the country illegally. He was arrested following the shooting of a 23-year-old man at his home in Johannesburg. Pictures posted online by the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Corporation showed Mnangagwa taking Ramaphosa around his farm.

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